


pretend you love me (and maybe one day you will)

by fabulousfairytales



Series: schmico AU ville [16]
Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-07-08
Packaged: 2020-06-24 17:30:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19728400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fabulousfairytales/pseuds/fabulousfairytales
Summary: When Levi sees his first love years after he had ghosted him at Joe's, he does the only logical thing he can think of: ask a stranger to pretend to date him so that said first love thinks he's desirable. Or something among the lines.





	pretend you love me (and maybe one day you will)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!! Okay so I didn't plan on posting two new stories in one day, but also this one has been sitting in my drafts and i finally want to post it. So here it is!

He didn’t hang out often at Joe’s. Only when his friends would ask him to tag along. Yes, his friends. His kinda normal, but still low-key nerdy friends.

Levi didn’t have many friends in high school. There was his Dungeons and Dragons group, but after starting college, they simply lost contact. It was weird. He thought that they, the outsiders, would be different than the others. That their passion for the game that pushed them outside the circle of being popular, had brought them together so closely that nothing, not even being hundreds of miles apart from each other, would be able to separate them.

And yet it happened. They were congratulating each other on their birthdays, but even that faded out over time. Levi’s mom had told him that that’s just life. People fall in and out of contact all the time. It wasn’t his or his friends’ fault. It was just… life.

Levi always wanted a best friend. One that he would’ve met in kindergarten, went to school together and then share a room with in college. But that never happened. He always had a few close friends, but he never had a best friend. That was until he met Zade.

Zade was cool. He was someone everyone liked. Nobody could hate him. He had voluminous black hair that hit his chin in soft waves. He dyed it religiously every two weeks so you wouldn’t see his ash brown roots. His eyes were almost as dark as his hair, his natural hair, but it had more of a golden tint to it. When he smiled, his eyes smiled too and when he laughed you couldn’t just stand there and not laugh with him. It was an infectious laugh and for a while Levi thought it was the most beautiful sound in the world.

Because here was the thing: After being assigned the same room in their first week of college, the two of them became fast friends. Levi found out that back home, Zade had a Golden Retriever named Applebee’s (his sister just really loved going there when they were young) and that Zade barely made the deadline to send out his applications, because said Retriever took a big fat dump on his letters. In his defense, the letters had fallen down to the floor and Zade didn’t pick them up for two full days. Also, Applebee’s had started getting diarrhea after eating a new kind of dog food. (Which Zade’s family quickly changed!)

They lived together only for one year, but it was enough for Levi to fall head over heels for him.

And apparently Zade had fallen for him too. Because by the end of the first year, before they were both going home for the summer, Zade confessed to his feelings for Levi. They spent the last night of the semester making out and exploring every inch of the other’s body until it was time to say goodbye for the summer break.

Levi texted him occasionally, but didn’t get a reply. He figured that it was because Zade and his family were taking a trip to his mother’s family in Egypt, so Levi didn’t think of much. Or at least he was telling himself not to worry. He would see him again when he was going back to college.

Except he didn’t.

When Levi returned to college, moving into his new dorm, Zade wasn’t there. He figured that maybe he just got a new roommate so he texted him again as he walked down the corridor, hoping to see a sign with Zade’s name on it, but it was in vain.

On his way back to his dorm, he saw Matt, one of Zade’s hockey teammates. Usually nervous to even speak to the athlete, he approached him, asking if he had heard anything from Zade.

Matt frowned. “Haven’t you heard? Zade dropped out to move to L.A. to his girlfriend.”

His… girlfriend? Levi wasn’t able to say anything so he just nodded softly before quickly returning to his room, throwing himself onto his bed and hiding his face in his pillow.

God, how could he have been so naïve? Of course, Zade wouldn’t wait all summer to run back into Levi’s arms. Of course, he didn’t mean what he said to Levi that night. He probably just wanted to have some fun and that’s it.

Wow, he really thought a guy like Zade would fall for somebody like him. How dumb is he even?

Years passed and Levi slowly got over the heartbreak that Zade had given him. He never told his mom about it. He usually told her everything, but this wasn’t something for her to know. It was just one night. And he didn’t need her to be angry for him. He wouldn’t see him again anyway, so he can deal with his feelings.

But then he did see him again.

It was a cold night in October. Taryn had asked him to go to Joe’s with her and he obliged after some nice asking. (He would’ve said begging, but Taryn doesn’t beg. She also doesn’t really ask. If she tells you to come to Joe’s with her, you go to Joe’s with her.)

It was Levi’s turn to get the drinks which was when he saw him.

Zade.

Zade was here. Zade was here and Levi’s brain was shutting off. Completely. Blue screen and everything.

Zade was here. Zade was here and he looked perfect. His hair looked still as fluffy as it did back then and all Levi wanted to do was run his fingers through it. His smile was still as bright as it was when Levi had told him one of his stupid medical-related puns.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

“Shit,” he cursed. Maybe he hadn’t seen him yet. Maybe he didn’t even recognized him.

“Levi!” He exclaimed as he made his way over to the bar.

Levi’s eyes widened in panic and he turned around, now facing a tall and handsome man right in front of him.

“Quick, you have to pretend to be my date,” Levi said to the man who just stared at him blank.

“Please,” he added.

“What?” The guy’s voice was deep. If Levi wasn’t panicking right now, he would’ve never dared to speak to him, but right now he didn’t care.

“Please, there’s a guy coming our way who ghosted me in college and I just really –“

“Hey, Levi!” Zade greeted him with a big smile.

“Uh – Hey,” Levi replied. He knew that asking this guy was a bad idea. He probably thought he was crazy. Or pathetic. Or both.

But then he suddenly felt an arm wrap around his shoulder. A pretty strong arm, Levi noted. He looked up at the guy and received the warmest smile. He felt like his legs would give out anytime now and wrapped one of his arms around the stranger’s waist. Shit, he didn’t even know his savior’s name.

He tore his eyes away from the man and looked back at Zade who was still smiling at them.

“Oh, I’m sorry, am I interrupting?”

“A little bit, yeah. It’s our six-month anniversary. But don’t worry. There’s always time to say hello to a friend, isn’t there, babe?”

“Huh?” The babe part erased something off Levi’s brain’s hard drive that he fears he’ll never get back.

“Uh – Yeah. Yeah, of course.”

“I’m Nico, by the way.” He offered his hand to Zade who shook it and gave him a short nod.

“So six months, huh?” Zade said. “Congrats man. You two look good together.”

“Thanks,” Levi replied quickly, his fingers nervously tapping Nico’s hip. Nico brushed his fingers over Levi’s shoulder in an attempt to calm him down a little and to Levi’s surprise, it worked.

“Alright, I don’t wanna impose on that big date. It was nice to see you again, Levi. Nico. Have a nice date.” And as quickly as he appeared, he disappeared again into the crowd.

Levi let out a breath of relief.

“Thank you,” he whispered, trying to avoid eye-contact with the man, with Nico.

“Oh anytime,” Nico replied with a smirk, pulling him a little closer, making Levi aware that they were still so very close. Even closer now.

“I’ve never seen you in here,” Levi noted, finally looking up into Nico’s eyes. Which was a big mistake, because wow. He was beautiful.

“Yeah? Well, I’ve never seen you in here either.”

“Oh.” Of course he hadn’t noticed him before? Why would he?

“Just kidding, I’ve never been here before tonight. I just moved here from the East Coast.”

“Ohh.” Wow. What a vocabulary. You can tell he was in the debate club.

“For the record,” he leaned in closer and it almost sent shivers down Levi’s spine. Instead, his heart was just pounding in his chest. “I already noticed you when you came in with your friend. I was hoping to catch you at the bar,” Nico added with a wink that would’ve caused Levi to drop his drink if he was holding one.

“You… really?”

“Of course. How could I not?” He asked as he wrapped one of Levi’s curls around his finger, absently playing with it as he looked into the abyss that were his green eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> Soooooo, what do you think? I hope you enjoyed it. If so, I'd be more than happy if you'd leave a comment :)  
> If you have a prompt or sth, my tumblr is [orthoglasses](http://orthoglasses.tumblr.com/)!


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